Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D.,
Principal of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to opium. The
habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak when he was at college; for
having read De Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his
tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the same ef- fects. He found, as so many
more have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many
years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of mingled horror and pity to his
friends and relatives. I can see him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and
pin-point pupils, all hud- dled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble man.
One night -- it was in June, '89 -- there came a ring to my bell, about the hour when a
man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid
her needle-work down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.
"A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out."
I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.
We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps upon the linoleum. Our
own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil,
entered the room.
"You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, suddenly losing her
self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her
shoulder. "Oh, I'm in such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little
help."
"Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whit- ney. How you
startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you came in."
"I didn't know what to do, so l came straight to you." That was always the way.
Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds to a light-house.
"It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit
here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should you rather that I sent James off to
bed?"
"Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Isa. He has not
been home for two days. I am so fright- ened about him!"
It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's trouble, to me as a
doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by
such words as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it possible that we
could bring him back to her?
It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late he had, when the fit was
on him, made use of an opium den in the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had
always been confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and shattered, in the
evening. But now the spell had been upon him eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there,
doubtless among the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the
effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper
Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could she, a young and timid woman, make her way
into such a place and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him?
There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it. Might I not escort her
to this place? And then, as a second thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa
Whitney's medical adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it better
if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab within two
hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had
left my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom
on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show how
strange it was to be.
But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure. Upper Swandam Lane
is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves which line the north side of the river to
the east of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached by a steep
flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found the den of
which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in
the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the light of a flickering
oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick and
heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the forecastle of
an emigrant ship.
Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying in strange fantastic
poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with
here and there a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black shadows
there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, now faint, as the burning poison
waxed or waned in the bowls of the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to
themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their
conversation coming in gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling
out his own thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the farther
end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside which on a three-legged wooden stool
there sat a tall, thin old man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows
upon his knees, staring into the fire.
As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe for me and a supply of
the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.
"Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend of mine
here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him."
There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and peering through the gloom I saw
Whitney, pale, haggard, and unkempt, staring out at me.
"My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of reaction, with
every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what o'clock is it?"
"Nearly eleven."
"Of what day?"
"Of Friday, June 19th."
"Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednes- day. What d'you want to
frighten the chap for?" He sank his face onto his arms and began to sob in a high
treble key.
"I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting this two days for you.
You should be ashamed of yourself!"
"So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here a few hours, three
pipes, four pipes -- I forget how many. But I'll go home with you. I wouldn't frighten
Kate -- poor little Kate. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?"
"Yes, I have one waiting."
"Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I owe, Watson. I am all
off colour. I can do nothing for myself."
I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sleepers, holding my breath to
keep out the vile, stupefying fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I
passed the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low
voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look back at me." The words fell quite
distinctly upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my
side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an
opium pipe dangling down from between his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer
lassitude from his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my
self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of astonishment. He had turned his
back so that none could see him but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone,
the dull eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and grinning at my
surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He made a slight motion to me to approach
him, and instantly, as he turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided
into a doddering, loose-lipped senility.
"Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?"
"As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you would have
the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend of yours I should be exceedingly glad
to have a little talk with you.'
"I have a cab outside."
"Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he appears to be too
limp to get into any mischief. I should recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to
your wife to say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait outside, I
shall be with you in five minutes."
It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes's requests, for they were always so
exceedingly definite, and put forward with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however,
that when Whitney was once confined in the cab my mission was practi- cally accomplished;
and for the rest, I could not wish anything better than to be associated with my friend in
one of those singular adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a
few minutes I had written my note, paid Whit- ney's bill, led him out to the cab, and seen
him driven through the darkness. In a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from
the opium den, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two streets he
shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. Then, glancing quickly round, he
straightened himself out and burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
"I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added
opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little weaknesses on which you have
favoured me with your medical views."
"I was certainly surprised to find you there."
"But not more so than I to find you."
"I came to find a friend."
"And I to find an enemy."
"An enemy?"
"Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural prey. Briefly, Watson, I
am in the midst of a very remarkable inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the
incoherent ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been recognized in
that den my life would not have been worth an hour's purchase; for I have used it before
now for my own purposes, and the rascally lascar who runs it has sworn to have vengeance
upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that building, near the corner of Paul's
Wharf, which could tell some strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless
nights."
"What! You do not mean bodies?"
"Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds for every poor devil
who has been done to death in that den. It is the vilest murder-trap on the whole
riverside, and I fear that Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But
our trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his teeth and whistled
shrilly -- a signal which was answered by a similar whistle from the distance, followed
shortly by the rattle of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs.
"Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through the gloom,
throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from its side lanterns. "You'll come
with me, won't you?
"If I can be of use."
"Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still more so. My room at
The Cedars is a double-bedded one."
"The Cedars?"
"Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I conduct the
inquiry."
"Where is it, then?"
"Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us."
"But I am all in the dark."
"Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up here. All right,
John; we shall not need you. Here's half a crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven.
Give her her head. So long, then!"
He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the endless succession of
sombre and deserted streets, which widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad
balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly be- neath us. Beyond lay
another dull wilderness of bricks and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy,
regular footfall of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of
revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a star or two twinkled
dimly here and there through the rifts of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his
head sunk upon his breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat beside
him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which seemed to tax his powers so
sorely, and yet afraid to break in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several
miles, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban villas, when he
shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his pipe with the air of a man who has
satisfied himself that he is acting for the best.
"You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes you quite
invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great thing for me to have someone to
talk to, for my own thoughts are not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to
this dear little woman to-night when she meets me at the door."
"You forget that I know nothing about it."
"I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before we get to Lee. It
seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of
thread, no doubt, but I can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case
clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a spark where all is dark to
me."
"Proceed, then."
"Some years ago -- to be definite, in May, 1884 -- there came to Lee a gentleman,
Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have plenty of money. He took a large villa,
laid out the grounds very nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made
friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter of a local brewer, by
whom he now has two children. He had no occupation, but was interested in several
companies and went into town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon
Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of age, is a man of temperate
habits, a good husband, a very affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who
know him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far as we have been
able to ascertain amount to 88 pounds lOs., while he has 220 pounds standing to his credit
in the Capital and Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money
troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
"Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier than usual,
remarking before he started that he had two important commissions to perform, and that he
would bring his little boy home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife
received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his departure, to the effect
that a small parcel of consider- able value which she had been expecting was waiting for
her at the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up in your
London, you will know that the office of the company is in Fresno Street, which branches
out of Upper Swandam Lane, where you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch,
started for the City, did some shopping, pro- ceeded to the company's office, got her
packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Swandam Lane on her way back to
the station. Have you followed me so far?"
"It is very clear."
"lf you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Clair walked
slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, as she did not like the neighbourhood
in which she found herself. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she
suddenly heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking down
at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a second-floor window. The window
was open, and she distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly agitated.
He waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so suddenly that
it seemed to her that he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. One
singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that although he wore some dark
coat, such as he had started to town in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
"Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the steps -- for the
house was none other than the opium den in which you found me to-night -- and running
through the front room she attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At
the foot of the stairs, however, she met this lascar scoundrel of whom I have spoken, who
thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the
street. Filled with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the lane and, by
rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of constables with an inspector, all on
their way to their beat. The inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of
the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to the room in which Mr.
St. Clair had last been seen. There was no sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of
that floor there was no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, it
seems, made his home there. Both he and the lascar stoutly swore that no one else had been
in the front room during the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector
was staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had been deluded when,
with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box which lay upon the table and tore the lid from
it. Out there fell a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had promised to
bring home.
"This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple showed, made the
inspector realize that the matter was serious. The rooms were carefully examined, and
results all pointed to an abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a
sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the back of one of the
wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low
tide but is covered at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The bedroom
window was a broad one and opened from below. On examination traces of blood were to be
seen upon the window- sill, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor
of the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were all the clothes of Mr.
Neville St. Clair, with the exception of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his
watch -- all were there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these garments, and
there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently
have gone for no other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the sill
gave little promise that he could save himself by swimming, for the tide was at its very
highest at the moment of the tragedy.
"And now as to the villains who seemed to be immedlately implicated in the matter.
The lascar was known to be a man of the vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's
story, he was known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few seconds of her
husband's appearance at the window, he could hardly have been more than an accessory to
the crime. His defense was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no
knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he could not account in any
way for the presence of the missing gentleman's clothes.

"So much for the lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who lives upon the
second floor of the opium den, and who was certainly the last human being whose eyes
rested upon Neville St. Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which
is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a professional beggar, though in
order to avoid the police regula- tions he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some
little distance down Threadneedle Street. upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may
have remarked, a small angle in the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily
seat, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he is a piteous
spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the greasy leather cap which lies upon the
pavement beside him. I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of
making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised at the har- vest which he
has reaped in a short time. His appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass
him without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face disfigured by a horrible
scar, which, by its contraction, has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog
chin, and a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast to the
colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid the common crowd of mendicants and so, too,
does his wit, for he is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be thrown
at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now learn to have been the lodger at the
opium den, and to have been the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in
quest."
"But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single- handed against a
man in the prime of life?"
"He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in other respects he
appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Surely your medical experience would tell
you, Watson, that weakness in one limb is often compensated for by excep- tional strength
in the others."
"Pray continue your narrative."
"Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the window, and she was
escorted home in a cab by the police, as her presence could be of no help to them in their
investigations. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful
examination of the premises, but without finding any- thing which threw any light upon the
matter. One mistake had been made in not arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some
few minutes during which he might have communicated with his friend the lascar, but this
fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and searched, without anything being found
which could incriminate him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right
shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been cut near the nail, and
explained that the bleeding came from there, adding that he had been to the window not
long before, and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the
same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that
the presence of the clothes in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As
to Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the window, he
declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming. He was removed, loudly
protesting, to the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the prem- ises in the
hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue.
"And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they had feared to find.
It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the
tide receded. And what do you think they found in the pockets?"
"I cannot imagine."
"No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with pennies and
half-pennies
-- 421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It was no wonder that it had not been swept away by
the tide. But a human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the wharf
and the house. It seemed likely enough that the weighted coat had remained when the
stripped body had been sucked away into the river."
"But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the room. Would the body
be dressed in a coat alone?"
"No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose that this man Boone
had thrust Neville St. Clair through the window, there is no human eye which could have
seen the deed. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him that he must
get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize the coat, then, and be in the act of
throwing it out, when it would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little
time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and
perhaps he has already heard from his lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up
the street. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret hoard, where he
has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he stuffs all the coins upon which he can
lay his hands into the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and
would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the rush of steps below,
and only just had time to close the window when the police appeared."
"It certainly sounds feasible."
"Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a better. Boone, as I have
told you, was arrested and taken to the station, but it could not be shown that there had
ever before been anything against him. He had for years been known as a profes- sional
beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very quiet and innocent one. There the matter
stands at present, and the ques- tions which have to be solved -- what Neville St. Clair
was doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is he now, and what
Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance -- are all as far from a solution as ever. I
confess that I cannot recall any case within my experience which looked at the first
glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties."
While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular se- ries of events, we had been
whirling through the outskirts of the great town until the last straggling houses had been
left behind, and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. Just as he
finished, however, we drove through two scattered villages, where a few lights still
glimmered in the windows.
"We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have touched on
three English counties in our short drive. start- ing in Middlesex, passing over an angle
of Surrey, and ending in Kent. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and
beside that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have little doubt, caught
the clink of our horse's feet."
"But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I asked.
"Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. Mrs. St. Clair has
most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and you may rest assured that she will have
nothing but a welcome for my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have
no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!"
We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its own grounds. A
stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and springing down I followed Holmes up the
small, winding gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door flew open,
and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad in some sort of light mousseline de
soie, with a touch of fluffy pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her
figure outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one half-raised in her
eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted
lips, a standing question.
"Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two of us,
she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw that my companion shook his head
and shrugged his shoulders.
"No good news?"
"None."
"No bad?"
"No."
"Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have had a long
day."
"This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to me in several of my
cases, and a lucky chance has made it possible for me to bring him out and associate him
with this investigation."
"I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "You will,
I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our arrangements, when you consider the
blow which has come so suddenly upon us."
"My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were not I can
very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of any assistance, either to you or
to my friend here, I shall be indeed happy."
"Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a well-lit dining-room,
upon the table of which a cold supper had been laid out, "I should very much like to
ask you one or two plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain
answer."
"Certainly, madam."
"Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given to fainting. I
simply wish to hear your real, real opinion."
"Upon what point?"
"In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?"
Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Frankly, now!" she
repeated, standing upon the rug and look- ing keenly down at him as he leaned back in a
basket-chair.
"Frankly, then, madam, I do not."
"You think that he is dead?"
"I do."
"Murdered?"
"I don't say that. Perhaps."
"And on what day did he meet his death?"
"On Monday."
"Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how it is that I have
received a letter from him to-day."
Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanized.
"What!" he roared.
"Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of paper in the air.
"May I see it?"
"Certainly."
He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out upon the table he drew over
the lamp and examined it intently. I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his
shoulder. The envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend postmark
and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day before, for it was considerably
after midnight.
"Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your husband's
writing, madam."
"No, but the enclosure is."
"I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go and inquire as to the
address."
"How can you tell that?"
"The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried itself. The rest is of
the grayish colour, which shows that blotting- paper has been used. If it had been written
straight off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This man has written
the name, and there has then been a pause before he wrote the address, which can only mean
that he was not familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is nothing so
important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! there has been an enclosure
here!"
"Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring."
"And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?"
"One of his hands."
"One?"
"His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual writing, and yet I
know it well."

"Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a huge error which it may
take some little time to rectify. Wait in patience.

"NEVILLE. Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf of a book, octavo size, no water-mark.
Hum! Posted to-day in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been
gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been chewing tobacco. And you
have no doubt that it is your husband's hand, madam?"
"None. Neville wrote those words."
"And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the clouds lighten,
though I should not venture to say that the danger is over."
"But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes."
"Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. The ring, after all,
proves nothing. It may have been taken from him.
"No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!"
"Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only posted
to-day."
"That is possible."
"If so, much may have happened between."
"Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is well with him. There
is so keen a sympathy between us that I should know if evil came upon him. On the very day
that I saw him last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining- room rushed
upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that something had happened. Do you think
that I would respond to such a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?"
"I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman may be more valuable
than the conclusion of an analyti- cal reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a
very strong piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband is alive and
able to write letters, why should he remain away from you?"
"I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable."
"And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?"
"No."
"And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?"
"Very much so."
"Was the window open?"
"Yes."
"Then he might have called to you?"
"He might."
"He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?"
"Yes."
"A call for help, you thought?"
"Yes. He waved his hands."
"But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the unexpected sight of
you might cause him to throw up his hands?"
"It is possible."
"And you thought he was pulled back?"
"He disappeared so suddenly."
"He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the room?"
"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the lascar was at the
foot of the stairs."
"Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his ordinary clothes on?"
"But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare throat."
"Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?"
"Never."
"Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?"
"Never."
"Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about which I wished to be
absolutely clear. We shall now have a little supper and then retire, for we may have a
very busy day to-morrow."
A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our disposal, and I was
quickly between the sheets, for I was weary after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes
was a man, however, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for days,
and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts, looking at it
from every point of view until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his
data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now preparing for an
all-night sitting. He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown,
and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the
sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he
perched himself cross- legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out
in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe
between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke
curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set
aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden
ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment.
The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full
of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon
the previous night.
"Awake, Watson?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Game for a morning drive?"
"Certainly."
"Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stable-boy sleeps, and we
shall soon have the trap out." He chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled,
and he seemed a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night.
As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one was stirring. It was
twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly finished when Holmes returned with the news
that the boy was putting in the horse.
"I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his boots. "I
think, Watson, that you are now standing in the presence of one of the most absolute fools
in Europe. I deserve to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the key
of the affair now."
"And where is it?" I asked, smiling.
"In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not jok- ing," he
continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been there, and I have taken
it out, and I have got it in this Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether
it will not fit the lock."
We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the bright morning
sunshine. In the road stood our horse and trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at
the head. We both sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country carts
were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropo- lis, but the lines of villas on
either side were as silent and lifeless as some city in a dream.
"It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, flicking the horse on
into a gallop. "I confess that I have been as blind as a mole, but it is better to
learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all."
In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily from their windows as we
drove through the streets of the Surrey side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we
crossed over the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the right and
found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well known to the force, and the two
constables at the door saluted him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led
us in.
"Who is on duty?" asked Holmes.
"Inspector Bradstreet, sir."
"Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come down the
stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged jacket. "I wish to have a quiet
word with you, Bradstreet." "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room
here." It was a small, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a
telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his desk.
"What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?"
"I called about that beggarman, Boone -- the one who was charged with being concerned
in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Lee."
"Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries."
"So I heard. You have him here?"
"In the cells."
"Is he quiet?"
"Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel."
"Dirty?"
"Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his face is as black as a
tinker's. Well, when once his case has been settled, he will have a regular prison bath;
and I think, if you saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it."
"I should like to see him very much."
"Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave your bag."
"No, I think that I'll take it."
"Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a passage, opened a
barred door, passed down a winding stair, and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a
line of doors on each side.
"The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it is!" He
quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and glanced through.
"He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well."
We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his face towards us, in a very
deep sleep, breathing slowly and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as
became his calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his tattered
coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely dirty, but the grime which covered his
face could not conceal its repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right
across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up one side of the upper
lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red
hair grew low over his eyes and forehead.
"He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector.
"He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he might,
and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." He opened the Gladstone bag as
he spoke, and took out, to my astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.
"He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector.
"Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very quietly, we will
soon make him cut a much more respect- able figure."
"Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't look a credit
to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his key into the lock, and we all very
quietly entered the cell. The sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a
deep slumber. Holmes stooped to the waterjug, moistened his sponge, and then rubbed it
twice vigorously across and down the prisoner's face.
"Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Lee, in
the county of Kent."
Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled off under the sponge like
the bark from a tree. Gone was the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which
had seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the repul- sive sneer to the
face! A twitch brought away the tangled red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a
pale, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, rubbing his eyes
and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Then suddenly realizing the exposure, he
broke into a scream and threw himself down with his face to the pillow.
"Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing man. I
know him from the photograph."
The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who aban- dons himself to his destiny.
"Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I charged with?"
"With making away with Mr. Neville St. Oh, come, you can't be charged with that
unless they make a case of attempted suicide of it," said the inspector with a grin.
"Well, I have been twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the
cake."
"If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime has been committed,
and that, therefore, I am illegally detained."
"No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said Holmes. "You
would have done better to have trusted you wife."
"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "God help
me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My God! What an exposure! What can I
do?"
Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him kindly on the shoulder.
"If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said he, "of
course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, if you convince the police
authorities that there is no possible case against you, I do not know that there is any
reasoa that the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Bradstreet would,
I am sure, make notes upon anything which you might tell us and submit it to the proper
authorities. The case would then never go into court at all."
"God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have endured
imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left my miserable secret as a family
blot to my children.
"You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a school-master in
Chesterfield, where I received an excel-: lent education. I travelled in my youth, took to
the stage, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day my editor
wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the metropolis, and I volunteered to
supply them. There was the point from which all my adventures started. It was only by
trying begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles.
When an actor I had, of course, learned all the secrets of making up, and had been famous
in the green-room for my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my face,
and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good scar and fixed one side of my lip
in a twist by the aid of a small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of
hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business part of the city,
ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and
when I returned home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no less
than 26s. 4d.
"I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, some time later, I
backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's
end where to get the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's grace
from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and spent the time in begging in
the City under my disguise. In ten days I had the money and had paid the debt.
"Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous work at 2 pounds a
week when I knew that I could earn as much in a day by smearing my face with a little
paint, laying my cap on the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my
pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reporting and sat day
after day in the corner which I had first chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and
filling my pockets with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a low
den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could every morning emerge as a
squalid beggar and in the evenings transform myself into a well-dressed man about town.
This fellow, a lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that my secret
was safe in his possession.
"Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of money. I do not mean
that any beggar in the streets of London could earn 700 pounds a year -- which is less
than my average takings -- but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making up, and
also in a facility of repartee, which improved by practice and made me quite a recognized
character in the City. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me,
and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds.
"As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country, and eventually
married, without anyone having a suspi- cion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew
that I had business in the City. She little knew what.
"Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my room above the opium
den when I looked out of my window and saw, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife
was standing in the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of surprise,
threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my confidant, the lascar, entreated him
to prevent anyone from coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that she
could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on
my pigments and wig. Even a wife's eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then
it occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the clothes might
betray me. I threw open the window, reopen- ing by my violence a small cut which I had
inflicted upon myself in the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was
weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the leather bag in which I
carried my takings. I hurled it out of the window, and it disappered into the Thames. The
other clothes would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of constables up
the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, I confess, to my relief, that instead
of being identified as Mr. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer.
"I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I was determined to
preserve my disguise as long as possible, and hence my preference for a dirty face.
Knowing that my wife would be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to
the lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together with a hurried scrawl,
telling her that she had no cause to fear."
"That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes.
"Good God! What a week she must have spent!"
"The police have watched this lascar," said Inspector Brad- street, "and I
can quite understand that he might find it difficult to post a letter unobserved. Probably
he handed it to some sailor customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days."
"That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt of it.
But have you never been prosecuted for begging?"
"Many times; but what was a fine to me?"
"It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are to hush
this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone."
"I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take."
"In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps may be taken. But if
you are found again, then all must come out. I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very moch
indebted to you for having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your
results."
"I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five pillows and
consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we drive to Baker Street we shall
just be in time for breakfast."

All Family Resources provides a
collection of Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle between 1887 and 1925.
(Absent are those in the Case Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927), which is still covered by
copyright until January 1, 2003.)